News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

Teen Internet use remains exceedingly popular, but fewer teens keeping blogs or online diaries, according to a study from the Pew Research Institute. Researchers found that teens today are more likely to be active on social networking sites such as MySpace or Twitter.

• The Pew study found that in 2006, 28 percent of teenage Internet users kept blogs, but today, that rate is 14 percent.
• Teens are more likely to use status updates on social networks to keep in touch with their friends.
  
• Teens were more likely to use MySpace, while adults preferred Facebook.
  
• Teenage girls are twice as likely to use Twitter compared to boys.

The number of adults who blog has remained consistent at one in ten adults among those who use the Internet.

Labels: blogs, internet, facebook, myspace

Posted By: Aspen/CRC 0 Comments

It's sort of like running into your parents at the mall when you're hanging out with all the cool kids - sort of. You go online to check your Facebook page and see that you have a "friend request," only this one is from your mom.

"Parents are flocking to social networking sites - sometimes to monitor their kids, and sometimes for the same reason teenagers signed up: to communicate and to share. For some teens, this can feel like an intrusion on their virtual space. For others, it's just a new way to stay in touch with mom and dad."

How kids respond to parents being on social networking sites depends on what the parent-teen relationship is like off-line. Parents who try to monitor their kids too much may find their strategy backfiring, and teens may block them from seeing the full truth. Source: Mexia (TX) Daily News

Labels: social-networking, facebook, interferring

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 0 Comments

Teens are dropping out of the popular online social network Facebook -- and one of the the most common reasons is that too many adults have discovered "their" network.

• A survey of 600 teenagers was performed for an online gaming company called Roiworld.
• Almost 80% said they had a Facebook profile, and 69% were still using it.
• However, among these teenagers, one in three was going on Facebook just to play online games and not to connect with friends.
• One in five no longer is using Facebook because they have lost interest (45%), too many adults and older people are there (14%), their parents have set up profiles (14%), and they are concerned about privacy issues (13%).

The survey indicated that 43% of the teenagers have spent money online, and 75% play online games.
 

Labels: internet, social-networking, facebook

Posted By: Aspen Education Group 1 Comment